A bit of new kit for the shed

[Allen]

I've had plans on upgrading my drum sander for over a year now. I've become so busy that it has got to the point where the little 10/20 Jet takes far too long to accomplish what the new one will do in just a fraction of the time. And then I got a weekly specials email from Carbatec putting this sander on sale, with the savings being almost spot on what the freight to Cairns was going to be. Teamed it up with a 2hp dusty and jobs done....well almost done. The mobile base I ordered was put on backorder so I had to crab walk this thing by myself to the back corner of the shed. No mean feat I can tell you because this thing is bloody heavy.

DSC_5031.jpg (101.08 KiB) Viewed 17829 times

As well, when I was down at Micheal's we knocked up a precision fence for my bandsaw, as the factory one is just a complete piece of crap. Made from stainless, alloy and bronze with quick adjustment by sliding and then locking the fence in place, and fine adjustment with the knob on the end. It's just a joy to use.

DSC_5029.jpg (85.82 KiB) Viewed 17829 times

And finally, Micheal has a collection of old cast iron, with doubles or triples of things. He passed this little Kiwi built 6" jointer on to me. It's a little beauty and works like a charm.

DSC_5033.jpg (103.51 KiB) Viewed 17829 times

And while I was at it, the shed is getting a good clean out. Man the dust and debris has a way of piling up in the corners.

[rocket]

Very nice Allen, i'm sure the sander will do the trick!!
Rod.

[Clancy]

[kiwinoz62]

Very nice Allen, clean workshop as well.
BTW, most kiwis work like a charm, including me

[Nick]

Niiiiice That bandsaw fence certainly looks the dogs bollocks Allen Can I come & apprentice at Barron River?

[EricDownunder]

Your comments on that drum sander would great, my 300mm belt sander might destroy a top if dare to use it for that, let us know if the Carba-Tech is a good sander.
By the way that fence is a credit to you guys, so much of the equipment we buy today is made in China and the attention to accuracey is a lot to deal with sometimes
Regards, Eric

[Paul B]

Nice sander, lucky bugger. My home-made one scares the crap outa me.

I hear you on the Jet fence, the Jet bandsaws are great in every other respect, why they put such a crappy fence on them I'll never know. Don't suppose you've got any drawings for the one you made that you could post? I've got a lathe, and that looks like a very worthwhile project.

[Lillian]

Nice additions to the shop Allen. Glad to hear you are so busy that you needed the equipment upgrade.

I want to apprentice at Barron River too.

[Allen]

Your comments on that drum sander would great, my 300mm belt sander might destroy a top if dare to use it for that, let us know if the Carba-Tech is a good sander.
By the way that fence is a credit to you guys, so much of the equipment we buy today is made in China and the attention to accuracey is a lot to deal with sometimes
Regards, Eric

Micheal has had this sander for well over a year now and we've used his to process over 50 uke sets for class's we instruct. As well he's used it for surf boards, work benches and God knows what else. I also pushed 3 sets of Milo through this one yesterday just to see how it goes. Comes out far better than the Jet and so bloody quick you'd wonder why you waited so long to upgrade.

Twin drums with the back drum finer than the front and micro adjust so you can take as little or as much with that drum as you like. I think that a combination of 60 grit and 100 grit would be the go for most everything luthier related.

I've used the Jet 16/32 and the 22/44 plus their fancy oscillating one. They all pale in comparison to this baby.

This fence isn't really our invention, as he's got some old cast iron in the shed most likely 70 years old with the same style of fence. We knocked this one up by utilising parts of my fence assembly and a bit of a mud map of my machine down at his place. Came out pretty damn good for not being able to trial fit anything on the saw.

You would need a mill and a lathe to build this one. Almost as much milling work as lathe.

I'm going to draw up the plans for Micheal, as I'm practicing my CAD skills. He's got a bloody big Bridgeport style mill and 2 metal lathes. Really getting into his metal work as a diversion from all that wood he has stashed away for a rainy day. He may decide to make a few. I know of a couple Jets that need a fence upgrade in the worst way.

It's also a design that could be quite easily adapted to other machines. Stay tuned for further developments.

[liam_fnq]

So................

Lucky I couldn't head down with you. I would have had to nurse a jointer on my lap for 2000km.

Probably around Tugan the door would've accidently flung open and the jointer would've been a speed hump for all the boy-racer cars that frequent the goldcoast highway.

[auscab]

Nice fence on the band saw Allen.
I bought the same sander as your one from Carbatec a while back, it's a beauty and has come in handy on some paying jobs, I would not be without one now.

I have not changed the belts on mine yet, I haven't needed to yet and also cant find the 2 new belts that came with the machine. When I find them I was going to try and use them as a template to cut out other replacements as well.
Do you know yet if the clip in these machines is the same type that can be a pain for belt changes that others have talked about with other machines before ?

[Allen]

Not tried changing the belts, but I asked Micheal about it and he said it's pretty easy to do. I never had any trouble with the belts on the Jet one.

Mine didn't come with any extra belts. I've got to get on with getting replacement stock. Cause when you need them, you need them. I hate to have to put everything off until they arrive.

[charangohabsburg]

It seems that the smaller instruments one builds the bigger sander one needs.
Good to know that your precious manpower will have less downtime feeding ukulele tops, backs and sides through the sander.

These are all some very nice pieces of equipment, thanks for showing them off Allen.

Your new band saw fence reminds me of the fact that the one on my band saw is also not in the high performance class. As I don't use the saw very much it doesn't bother me too much either, but from time to time I wish adjusting would be a bit less fiddly (although I believe it is better than the Jet fence, but only because my fence features a positive side effect of the poor design). I'm looking forward to your announced further developments.

[Nick Payne]

I hear you on the Jet fence, the Jet bandsaws are great in every other respect, why they put such a crappy fence on them I'll never know.

I recently bought a Jet JWBS-14Q, which actually has a decent fence on it - looks quite similar to the fence in Allen's photo at the top. The bandsaw is actually manufactured in Switzerland by Walter Meier AG. http://www.jet-tools.com.au/Media/JWBS-14Q.pdf

[Allen]

That is the exact fence that was on my saw and every other Jet I've seen Nick. And it's a total piece of crap! You just haven't used yours long enough to realise that yet.

We've replaced the locking and adjusting mechanism with the precision one and just used parts of the original to make it easy to still fit the saw.

If you pop your fence off and have a look at the locking mechanism on yours you will notice a cam type lock with what looks like a plastic or teflon pad. It's that set up that will leave you totally pissed off when you've set up to do a cut and it ends up slipping on you. Happened to me far too many times to put up with that. As well, as time goes by the glue that is used to hold that teflon type pad in place fails and the pad slips making getting the proper tension impossible without repositioning it. If you let it go too long it falls out, leaving you to search around in the dust bin 'cause you swept it up.

[charangohabsburg]

The bandsaw is actually manufactured in Switzerland by Walter Meier AG. http://www.jet-tools.com.au/Media/JWBS-14Q.pdf

I am sorry to disappoint you Nick. The enterprise Walter Meier does some manufacturing, but not that of Jet products.

Here:

1988
The first step in the expansion of the manufacturing business outside of Switzerland through the acquisition of JET Equipment & Tools, a U.S. supplier of wood and metal working machinery, conveyors and lifting equipment.

I'm afraid we have every year less manufacturing over here. I believe the last bandsaws made in Switzerland were those INCA saws. INCA went bankrupt about 10 years ago.

[Bob Connor]

Nice looking bunch of gear Al. You should be able to run about 10 uke sets through that sander at a time.

I'd certainly be interested if Michael was.going to produce some more of those fences.

Regards

[Lillian]

Allen, let me know if you need a hand with the CAD drawing.

[Allen]

I'm teaching myself Solidworks Lillian. I'm starting to get comfortable with it now. Things that are cylinders or blocks are actually dead easy in it. When you get to organic shapes like guitars and ukes then some of the challenges present themselves. But even that is coming along..

[ozziebluesman]

Great sanding machine Allen. That wil save you some time in the workshop.

I too would be interested in a fench for the bandsaw in the future.

Cheers

Alan

[Paul B]

That is the exact fence that was on my saw and every other Jet I've seen Nick. And it's a total piece of crap! You just haven't used yours long enough to realise that yet.

We've replaced the locking and adjusting mechanism with the precision one and just used parts of the original to make it easy to still fit the saw.

If you pop your fence off and have a look at the locking mechanism on yours you will notice a cam type lock with what looks like a plastic or teflon pad. It's that set up that will leave you totally pissed off when you've set up to do a cut and it ends up slipping on you. Happened to me far too many times to put up with that. As well, as time goes by the glue that is used to hold that teflon type pad in place fails and the pad slips making getting the proper tension impossible without repositioning it. If you let it go too long it falls out, leaving you to search around in the dust bin 'cause you swept it up.

Been there, done that, agree entirely.

I cut up a cork sanding block and used a piece of that as a replacement for the teflon pad. It works better, only 'cause double-sided tape will stick to it. But the whole fence system still needs to be discarded and replaced with something reliable.

[J.F. Custom]

Ooooh... Ahhhh...

Very nice purchase Allen. I recall you mentioning one of these was potentially on the cards - glad to see it eventuated. I'd buy one of these beasts in a heartbeat; if it would only fit in my workshop... Reason enough to move house? As is it, I'll suffer the mini version for a while longer.

Flash kit that fence too! Micheal must have quite some setup out there, but crikey he (and you) put it to some good use. I really can't say any of the modern fences are 'great', irrespective of brand. They are all very similar and not as robust as the old cast machines feature.

The bandsaw is actually manufactured in Switzerland by Walter Meier AG.

Yep Nick, I'm afraid I'll second Markus comments on origin. The price is a good indicator - I think you'll find it is ex China or Taiwan, possibly more likely the latter. I've been in a factory in Taiwan that produces many of the Jet bandsaw models. Not that this is a bad thing, just for clarification.

Jeremy.

[Nick Payne]

BTW, this is an interesting idea for a bandsaw fence using a table saw mitre gauge: http://videos.americanwoodworker.com/vi ... dsaw-Fence

[liam_fnq]

That sander's come on special this week too. Mustn't have cleared out enough of the extra stock.